Scot spikers advance to NCAC semifinals

Published: November 3, 2012 4:00 AM

The College of Wooster volleyball team avenged its regular season loss to fourth-seeded Denison University with a 3-1 victory over the Big Red on Friday evening in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Springfield.

The Scots (18-12) entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed, but are now guaranteed a top-four finish in the conference, and will play top-seeded Wittenberg University (22-4) in the semifinal round tomorrow at noon.

Wooster and Denison (19-10) were knotted on the scoreboard 16 times during the opening set, until the Scots closed it out with three straight points, including kills from Devin Grandi and Erica Skillman, to take the lengthy battle 30-28. Denison raced out to a 15-6 lead in the second set on its way to a 25-17 match-tying victory, but Wooster steadily pulled away in the third (25-21) and fourth sets (25-18) to secure a strong 3-1 result.

Paige Parker and Skillman led the attack with 17 and 14 kills, respectively, and Autumn Berry passed out 37 assists. The Scots also got a boost at the service line, where they totaled nine aces, including four from Melissa Morgan, which tied her career-high.

Five different players recorded at least 10 digs, highlighted by Kelley Johnson's 17, and Zoe Zwegat recorded two block solos and three block assists in a strong showing at the net.

Neither team hit particularly well, as Denison narrowly edged Wooster's hitting percentage .138 to .121, but the Scots hit .344 with 14 kills and just three errors on 32 attempts in their decisive fourth set triumph.